The Shutdown Party. A great editorial from USA Today [View all]

[madfloridian]

Last edited Mon Sep 30, 2013, 11:44 PM - Edit history (1)

The Shutdown Party: Our view

In this case, however, the "they're all bums" reaction is off-base. This shutdown is not the result of the two parties acting equally irresponsibly. It is the product of an increasingly radicalized Republican Party, controlled by a deeply disaffected base that demands legislative hostage-taking in an effort to get what it has not been able to attain through the electoral process or the judiciary.

Republicans in the House are making demands that are both preposterous and largely unrelated to budgetary matters. In return for keeping government running (and, even more ominously, for paying its bills), they want President Obama to undermine the health care law that he ran on in 2008 and 2012, and now considers his signature domestic accomplishment.

No president of either party could accept that kind of badgering. No president should, as it would set a terrible precedent.

.."Ending the shutdown will probably require House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to stand up to the Tea Party purists and allow the full House to vote on a "clean" bill to fund the government, without any amendments about ObamaCare. Whether and when Boehner will do so remains to be seen. In the meantime, if the shutdown drags on, the inconveniences pile up and the toll on the economy becomes more apparent, it's clear where the blame is properly laid.

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